Take a tour of Sea Harvest's remodeled freezer-trawler

Sea Harvest's freezer trawler Atlantic Peace is the latest addition to the 19-vessel strong fleet of the South African hake fishing and processing company.

Built in 1987, it used to fish for halibut in Greenland but was acquired by Sea Harvest in July 2014 and remodeled for frozen-at-sea (FAS) hake production.

The vessel has a capacity of holding 420 metric tons of fish per trip, Stephen Lawson, freezer fleet manager at Sea Harvest, told IntraFish during a visit in Saldanha Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa.

Of this, 200 metric tons are processed as fillets, the rest is headed and gutted (H&G) hake. Thirty-eight of the around 60 crew work in the factory on board the Atlantic Peace, Lawson said.

"It's a lot faster than on land," he said.

The Atlantic Peace usually stays at sea for around 30 days per fishing trip before heading back to Sea Harvest's quay in Saldanha Bay, where it docks for two to three days to unload its catch and refill with fuel.

In Saldanha Bay, Sea Harvest operates a processing facility as well as workshops for repairs at its vessels.